Water Pressure Alerts: Why You Need a Pressure Releasing Valve and-or a Thermal Expansion Tank
Now that you have your Flo Smart Water Monitor and Shutoff installed on your plumbing system, you have received alerts about issues with your home’s water pressure. In the troubleshooting articles, a solution is to add an Expansion Tank or Pressure Releasing Valve to your home’s plumbing system. But what are these devices? What do they do? Why do I need one? This article will answer those questions.
Why Am I Getting Pressure Alerts?
You received a pressure alert such as High Water Pressure, Low Water Pressure or Pressure Over Recommended Max because the Flo Smart Water Device Detected that the water pressure coming into your home is not at a safe or ideal rate. You may be alerted to a combination of high water alerts and low water alerts, which means your water pressure is fluctuating.
When your water pressure is too high, fixtures (ie: toilets, faucets), appliances (ex: dishwashers, hot water tanks) and pipes are all put under extra stress. Your toilets, shower heads and faucets are all designed to operate under a certain pressure threshold. Exceed that pressure and they start to break down and need to be replaced.
Having chronically high water pressure can also lead to bigger problems. Small leaks can develop that can go undetected for months if they’re behind walls, above ceilings or under floors. Those small leaks eventually lead to structural damage, rotting out your home’s wood frame and encouraging toxic mold growth.
High water pressure can also lead to sudden pipe bursts that can cause catastrophic damage and loss of property. This is especially true in the winter, when freezing temperatures can cause ice buildup in pipes that lead to even higher water pressure.
Thermal Expansion Tanks and Pressure Releasing Valves can help restore the ideal water pressure in your home. While there are expenses to installing these items on your plumbing system now, it will be much cheaper than dealing with the costs associated with pipe bursts and the lower life of your water appliances and water fixtures.
Signs of High Water Pressure
What happens to your plumbing system if you don’t have an expansion tank or pressure release valve? As the water in your pipes heats up and expands, your water pressure in your entire home starts to rise. Since the spike in pressure happens after the water passes through your pressure reducing valve, the pressure gauge will read as if nothing’s changed.
But if you pay attention, you’ll notice some of the tell-tale signs of high water pressure:
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Water hammer. Do you ever hear loud banging sounds coming from your pipes whenever you open or close a faucet? It’s called water hammer, and it’s a red flag that you almost certainly have a pressure problem.
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Toilet trouble. Water under high pressure has a knack for escaping your pipes, and one of the points of least resistance is your toilet. While a running toilet might be caused by worn out components in your toilet’s tank, it could also be a sign of high pressure.
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Dripping fixtures. The gaskets in your faucets and shower heads are only built to handle pressures of up to around 80 psi. Anything over that and you’ll notice some dripping even when they’re turned all the way off.
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Water spots on walls and ceilings. High water pressure can lead to tiny leaks around pipe joints. These leaks can happen in several places throughout your home, usually behind walls and ceilings. If you notice any discoloration on your walls, you might have a small leak that is seeping into the drywall.
Those are just the early warning signs. If you’ve got a water heater that keeps running and doesn’t have a working expansion tank or pressure release valve, you could end up with huge leaks, floods and even a tank explosion as your plumbing system wears out over time.
Can Flo Smart Water Monitor and Shutoff Adjust My Water Pressure?
No. Flo will monitor your water pressure, but it cannot adjust your water pressure. You will need a Pressure Release Valve (PRV) and a Thermal Expansion Tank to regulate your water’s pressure.
Pressure Releasing Valves (PRV’s)
What is a Pressure Reducing Valve?
Pressure reducing valves are devices that work directly to slow down the pressure of water flowing into your home. They are installed on the main water line next to the shut-off valve. Water from the water main goes into the valve on one side. As the water moves through the valve, it must pass through a spring and diaphragm which causes resistance and lowers the pressure to the desired level as the water leaves the valve through the other side.
The genius of pressure reducing valves is that they’re set to regulate your water flow to a specific pressure. That means if there’s a sudden spike in your area’s municipal water pressure, the spring and diaphragm in the valve will tighten and you’ll still have a consistent amount of pressure in your home.
Some municipal water mains pump water at extremely high pressures — sometimes well over 100 psi. Local water companies will often crank up the pressure to deliver water to hard-to-reach places like high-rise buildings or high-elevation neighborhoods.
But water pressure above 60 psi can cause significant wear and tear to your pipes, fixtures and appliances over time.
Homes built after the 1980’s usually have a pressure reducing valve installed already. They don’t last forever, though. If you have a pressure reducing valve that is over ten years old, you might want to look into replacing it.
How to Check Your Home’s Water Pressure
If you think you might have a pressure problem at home, you can use a pressure gauge to get an exact reading on your water pressure. Using a pressure gauge is easy — it screws on to one of your outdoor spigots. Opening the spigot gives you an instant look at your home’s water pressure. Gauges can be picked up at most hardware and home improvement stores.
Smart home water monitoring systems like the Flo Smart Water Monitor and Shutoff use sensors to monitor your home’s water pressure in real-time, detecting even the smallest fluctuations in pressure. The Flo Smart Water Monitor and Shutoff can also detect leaks as small as a drop per minute, giving you the chance to address problems you’d otherwise not even be aware of.
Why Pressure Matters
Every fixture, appliance and pipe in your home was built to withstand a certain level of water pressure, typically between 60-80 psi. Shower heads, toilets, faucets, appliances, water heaters and pipe joints can all start to wear down and eventually malfunction if they’re constantly subjected to high pressures.
The bottom line? High pressure is expensive. Not only do you have to worry about replacing fixtures and appliances more often, but you also run the risk of small leaks forming in hard-to-detect places. Those small leaks can lead to structural water damage and black mold.
On the other hand, you could end up with a sudden, massive leak if a pipe bursts or your washing machine hose rips open. Imagine something like that happening shortly after you leave for work or while you’re away for the weekend.
Putting aside catastrophic events, having high water pressure is just generally expensive. Consistently high water pressure means more water is being used for every day-to-day, water-related function in your home. Every shower you take and every toilet flushes uses more water than necessary, inflating your water bill and damaging the environment.
How High-Water Pressure Affects Different Areas in Your Home
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Water Heaters
When water heats up, it expands. A water heater operating under normal conditions is equipped to deal with this expansion. Most water heaters even have an expansion tank, which takes on the burden of the expanding water during heating.
But if your water pressure is too high, there might be too much water in the tank. Once that water starts heating up and expanding and there’s nowhere left for it to go.
You can end up with a leak, or even worse, a burst water tank. A burst water tank in your basement could mean thousands of dollars in water damage repairs, not to mention the cost of replacing the busted tank.
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Washing Machines and Other Appliances
The most vulnerable area in these appliances are the inlet hoses. Too much pressure can cause these hoses to crack are suddenly become separated from the appliance, leading to leaks and floods.
High water pressure also puts extra wear and tear on your washing machine and dishwasher. Even if you’re lucky enough not to have a hose rupture, your appliances aren’t going to last as long if they’re under constant stress. Most water-using home appliances are built to withstand water pressures no higher than 80 psi.
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Toilets and Fixtures
Just like your appliances, your toilets and other plumbing fixtures are all designed to handle pressures of around 80 psi.
High water pressure can cause your toilet to run constantly, leading to thousands of gallons of wasted water over the course of a year. It can also damage the flushing components in your toilet tank.
Fixtures like faucets and shower heads can start leaking when under a certain amount of pressure. That’s because the cartridges inside these fixtures weren’t built to handle high levels of water pressure. Leaking, spitting and banging noises (water hammer) when you turn off the fixtures are all symptoms of high water pressure.
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Pipe Leaks and Bursts
Pipes are great about letting us know if our water pressure is too high. Ever hear a loud banging noise in your pipes when you shut off the tap? That noise is called water hammer, and it’s the sound of fast-moving water coming to a sudden stop in your plumbing system. Under more reasonable pressure, water hammer is non-existent.
The constant stress of high pressure running through your pipes is especially hard on your pipe joints. You might end up with a tiny leak in your pipe that goes undetected for a long time. Those small, invisible leaks are quite dangerous, compromising the structural integrity of your home and encouraging the growth of toxic black mold.
Thermal Expansion Tanks
What Is Thermal Expansion?
Thermal expansion is the tendency for matter to expand in mass or volume as its temperature increases. It’s one of those universal laws of science that applies to just about anything. The biggest victim of thermal expansion in your home is water. Since your home’s water is all being held up in extremely non-flexible pipes, it’s something you might want to know about.
Water heaters are working all the time, heating up water for our sinks, showers and appliances. And every time it kicks on, the water in that tank expands.
Where does that extra water volume go?
You’d think it just flows right out of your house, but it’s not that easy. That’s because most homes operate on a closed plumbing system, meaning that excess water is essentially trapped in your home.
Closed Plumbing Systems
Plumbing systems are either open or closed. In an open system, water can flow in and out of your home through the water main. If there’s an increase in water pressure due to thermal expansion, water will naturally flow out of the system since the incoming water flows at a lower pressure.
In a closed system, this can’t happen. And the reality is that most homes in the U.S. operate on a closed system. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that when it comes to municipal water supplies, having an open system could pose a possible public health risk. Sediment and debris from old lead pipes can contaminate drinking water. So, home plumbing systems have a check valve to prevent backflow into the municipal supply.
The other reason most homes operate on closed systems is because of pressure reducing valves. Since municipal water suppliers usually pump out water at extremely high pressures, homes have pressure regulators to dial down the water pressure to safer levels. This protects your pipes and fixtures from wear and tears due to too much pressure.
So, if water can’t leave your home, how does your plumbing network deal with the excess pressure and volume caused by your water heater? It relies on a thermal expansion tank. When the water that enters your hot water tank gets heated up, the water expands and needs somewhere to go. This is usually taken care of by a thermal expansion tank or a pressure release valve, both of which are installed on or near your hot water tank.
What Is A Thermal Expansion Tank?
Thermal expansion tanks give all that extra water a place to go so the rest of your plumbing system does not have high water pressure.
A thermal expansion tank is a small tank that is installed on the inlet line going into your water heater. Inside the tank is compressed air and a bladder. The compressed air is pressurized to match your home’s water pressure.
When your water heater fires up and the water in its tank starts expanding, the water pressure starts to exceed the pressure of the compressed air in the expansion tank. That high-pressure water makes its way into the expansion tank’s bladder. As the bladder fills up, the overall water pressure in your plumbing system starts to go back down.
But an expansion tank isn’t foolproof. If your water heater is set too high, there might be so much expansion going on that there isn’t enough room in the expansion tank for all that water. The water heater manufacturers know this, so they put a pressure release valve on their water tanks.
Hot water tanks usually have a pressure release valve and serve as the last line of defense for your water heater. They do their job in a more primitive way by simply letting the excess water spill out into a pan — or sometimes just onto the floor.
Avoid Common Problems – Expansion Tank Maintenance
Unfortunately, thermal expansion tanks don’t last forever. Most tanks eventually become waterlogged, making them unable to perform their function. Professional plumbers recommend replacing them every five to ten years. Here are a few ways to look after your expansion tank:
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Watch out for condensation. This can be caused by a waterlogged expansion tank or could just be the result of a very humid climate. Either way, it could pose a danger if your water heater is situated near any electrical devices.
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Do the “tap test.” Simply tap or knock on your expansion tank and listen to the sound it makes. If it makes a hollow, ringing sound you know there’s still air inside it. If it makes more of a dull sound, it means your tank is full of water and needs to be replaced.
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Feel the tank. Feel the top and the bottom of your expansion tank. The top of the tank, which should be filled with compressed air, should be cool to the touch. The bottom of the tank, where the water goes, should be warm. If the top of the tank feels the same as the bottom, you know you’ve got a problem.
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Pay attention to your water heater’s pressure release valve. Remember the pressure release valve? It starts releasing water if there’s too much pressure for the expansion tank to handle. If you notice the release valve is constantly dripping, it could mean your expansion tank isn’t working anymore.
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Upgrade your tank before it fails. You don’t have to wait until you notice a problem to invest in a new expansion tank. A good rule of thumb is to replace your tank whenever you replace or service your water heater.